By Ben Dirs

The Twenty20 Champions League is a big prospect Ravi Bopara

"It's getting a bit like football, and to say cricket is getting a bit like football is an amazing thing. I never thought we'd get there. Dreams are coming true I guess."

The words of Essex and England all-rounder Ravi Bopara will send chills down the spines of cricket traditionalists, many of whom may come to view 2008 as the sport's annus horribilis.

For the 23-year-old Bopara, Twenty20 finals day at Hampshire's Rose Bowl will be one of the highlights of the season. If Essex lose to Kent in the final of the Friends Provident Trophy next month, it could prove to be the season's apogee.

For while many, including his Essex mentor and England legend Graham Gooch, view the rise of Twenty20 with suspicion, like a pungent weed set to strangle all other forms of game, Bopara sees it in an altogether more positive light.

"Twenty20 is massive now," says Bopara. "I have to admit, it did start out as a bit of fluff, just more games for us to play.

"But now it's very high on our list of priorities because we know it brings a lot of money to the club. It's not a Mickey Mouse competition any more."

When asked if die-hards, fearing for the future of longer forms of the game, and Test cricket in particular, are right to be alarmed, Bopara was unequivocal.

"Cricket's changing and always will," says Bopara. "Twenty20 is a growing game and there are a lot of financial rewards that will come with it.

Napier has been the revelation of the Twenty20 tournament

"Everyone's behind it, kids are playing it in the streets and it's about giving the crowds what they want - they love it. This is not the end of Twenty20."

Bopara expects to line up against Kent in Saturday's first semi-final despite having played only twice in this season's group stages because of England commitments.

And he believes Essex have the players to beat the defending champions and reach their first Twenty20 Cup final, against Middlesex or Durham.

"We have played very good cricket in the last month and a half," says Bopara of a side which has not lost in any form of the game since Kent beat them by 81 runs in the Twenty20 Cup on 22 June.

"We're in the final of the Friends Provident, the semi-finals of the Twenty20 and it's an exciting month coming up.

"We want to win it [the Twenty20 Cup] - we've talked about doing it, now we want to do it.

"Graham Napier [who struck an unbeaten 152 from 58 balls against Sussex last month] has been a key factor all the way through.

"It was a brilliant knock against Sussex and like they say, it only takes one knock to change a person's life and his game's really come on since then.

"He'll be a key man with bat and ball, but all of our guys do a wonderful job at key times, we're a good all-round side and everyone's a dangerous player."

Aside from the swashbuckling Napier, who has also claimed 15 wickets in 11 matches, wicketkeeper James Foster has been Essex's most effective run-scorer in Twenty20 cricket, with 286 runs at an average of 40.

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Pakistani leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, with 18 scalps in the group stages, is perhaps their most potent weapon though, proving that slow bowlers do have a place in this most merciless of games.

"Kent are a very, very good side,� adds Bopara. "They're the champions and as individuals they're probably the best in the country.

"But we do have a history of beating them and there's no reason why we can't do that again on Saturday and reach the final. Once we're in the final, we're capable of beating anybody.

"And it's nice to know that at the end of the tournament, after lifting the cup, there's somewhere else to go - the Champions League is a big prospect."

Indeed, with a �1m winners' cheque up for grabs at the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League in October, which will feature the top two Twenty20 sides from England, India, Australia and South Africa, it is easy to see why Bopara and Co are taking this Saturday so seriously.

Win the thing, and the Essex players will no doubt celebrate as if they'd just won their first County Championship since 1992.

Even some of the old guard might raise a glass or two - there's nothing like a little bit of money to test the values of even the most ardent traditionalist.

Ravi Bopara was speaking at the launch of StreetChance in West London, an initiative to help tackle youth crime in the capital. StreetChance is a partnership between Chance to shine, Barclays Spaces for Sports, Cricket for Change, the Metropolitan Police Service and Positive Futures. It uses Street 20 cricket to engage youngsters in areas of London affected by youth crime and anti-social behaviour.